Personally I think all travel sites look the same, nothing enticing – the lame pictures of white sandy beaches and clear blue water don’t really work for me anymore. It’s no surprise that bookings are down 50% from last year for most agencies. There are tons of agencies out there that take this same online approach. If I ran a travel agency today, here are the first four things I would do:
1. Get Video and Photos
Content is King. When you come to my travel site you will see REAL people on vacation. This approach would probably engage more clients and even tempt them to grab one of our great deals. I would rent out flipcams to some of my most passionate users and have them film their vacations. If they come back with great content, then they can keep the camera in exchange for the rights to the content. Think about it, I just spent $150 on great content (not incurring the cost of a production staff of three or 4 days on location). Perhaps I may sell ads on that content or beside it to offset the cost of the camera….perhaps.
2. Work With Travel Guides Publishers
There are tons of travel books out there. I would review books or the destinations in the books and even sell the guides through my site on the amazon associates platform. When folks search for these books or destinations that are highlighted in this book they may come across my site. And once they get there they can also buy a package to the highlighted destination. I would also pull in as much information on the destination as possible (good and bad). I would also pull in Twitter feeds that mention this destination, You Tube video on the place, show a Google earth map that shows all the amenities around it and photos from the region, and sell other books from the region through an amazon affiliate, again.
3. Have a Facebook or Twitter Strategy
Why not? Everybody is doing it. I know that when I see my friends’ albums of them having fun in the sun, walking down the street in Barcelona or writing in the sand on a beautiful beach in Costa Rica, I often think “WOW” I wish I was there. Why not help my clients earn money (affiliate program) when they go on vacation. When they upload their photos on my own special Facebook Travel App, if one of their friends clicks through on one of their pics and buys a package from my site my client earns a referral fee.
For Twitter, I would incent my clients to use a hashtag for my agency (i.e. #jareltravelco) to send messages to the world about their trip and so I can keep updated on where my clients are and if they are in need of any assistance in their travels.
4. Find the most likeable person in the office (and or your most passionate clients) and give them a platform
This is like having a spokesperson, the cool thing is that they are motivated by what your product and service/company has done for them. Perhaps this is a client we were able to help on their wedding, honeymoon or anniversary. I would give this person their own blog with a website, a flip cam and some other tools to help them create content. I would provide them with all the comps and perks that our staff gets and give them tools to engage their friends and train up other brand evangelists.
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